New Hampshire Election Results

Nationwide, the Democratic party made gains in the November 2006 general election. New Hampshire was no exception, as voters expressed their ire over the situation in Iraq, a paradoxically profligate-spending "conservative" Republican national party, and an alarming erosion of Constitutional protections.

Certainly it does not make logical sense to punish local Republicans for the sins of the party bigwigs in Washington, DC. The New Hampshire House Republican Alliance has always been a true, small-government, Barry-Goldwater-influenced group of legislators. Many of them describe the national Republican party as having "left them behind." Sadly, such nuances are lost on many voters who voted straight-ticket against Republicans in protest.

Sure, it's bad news that a block of the small-government Republicans lost their elections this cycle. But, does this mean New Hampshire is doomed not be a "Free State?" Not by a New Hampshire mile!

Free-Stater Elected to State House!

Over 1 dozen Free-Staters ran for State Representative seats in this election. The majority of them ran as Republicans. This made a lot of sense, given that the Republican party has traditionally been more closely identified with smaller government, lower taxes, and so on. However, two Free-Staters ran as Democrats. One lost a closely-contested race in the Democrat party primary. The other, Joel Winters, successfully made it through his primary -- and went on to win a seat in the New Hampshire House of Representatives!

Joel has been active with the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance and with privacy group NH CASPIAN. Joel cited the unified stand of the Democratic party against Real-ID as his primary motivation for running as a Democrat. That choice certainly paid off, as Joel rode the Democrat wave into office, on a "No Real-ID, and No Sales or Income Taxes" platform.

I know Joel personally, and he is an extremely principled, true liberty-loving individual. I know he respects and supports the Constitution and will work to strengthen it, including the parts the Republicans have trampled (such as the 4th and 9th amendments) as well as those the traditional Democrats have (such as the 2nd amendment).

As a State Rep, Joel now has the ability to submit bills to the Legislature, to argue bills on the House floor, to amend bills, and -- critically -- to pull any bill off of the "consent calendar", thereby requiring the legislature to consider and vote on the bill specifically.

Joel's victory speech is available here on YouTube. It's a must-see!

NH Constitution Amended: Eminent Domain Curbed

In a major libertarian victory, the NH Constitution has been amended to read:
"No part of a person's property shall be taken by eminent domain and transferred, directly or indirectly, to another person if the taking is for the purpose of private development or other private use of the property."
In short, the terrible situation that arose in New London, CT will not happen in New Hampshire.

Despite the fact that the state's most "socially progressive" newspaper, the Concord Monitor, came out in opposition to the amendment, the measure passed the popular vote with a landslide 85.5% of voters voting in favor of the amendment.

NH Constitution Amended: Even MORE Representative Democracy

New Hampshire is famous for is intimately representative citizens' democracy. Here where I live in Concord, I have two State Representatives within easy walking distance of my house. Unfortunately, this is not the case for residents of some smaller towns. With the passage of this amendment, the State Constitution will now ensure that as many towns and wards as possible will have their own Representatives. (Presently, smaller towns that are close to larger ones often share the same pool of Representatives.)
NH Representative Neal Kurk eloquently describes in this editorial how the change will keep Representatives answerable to their close neighbors.

With Democrats Like These, Who Needs Republicans?

OK, maybe that's a bit of a stretch. But the fact is, a major reason why the Democrats were able to score victories in this state, was the fact that much of their leadership (including the Governor) took a well-publicized pledge to prevent any State Income or Sales Tax. Arguably, it was taking the threat of broad-based taxes off the table that enabled the Democratic victory in this state.

Majority of New Hampshire Liberty Alliance Endorsed Candidates Win

The majority of candidates endorsed by the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance won their elections. 75 legislators endorsed by the NHLA will be in the State House next year; every single one of them are freedom-loving people who respect the Constitution.
Most of those endorsed by the NHLA who lost their races did so by astonishingly small margins. For example, the Political Director of the NHLA, Don Gorman, lost to a Democrat challenger by 36 votes. That particular race will be contested in a re-count next week.

Make Hay While The Sun Shines

That's the attitude of many of us Free-Staters. On the majority of freedom issues, the Republicans are our friends. But not all. Some things will be harder for the next 2 years, but some will be easy. I here and now predict that New Hampshire will opt-out of the Federal Real-ID program. Among the Republicans who were re-elected is co-sponsor and privacy advocate Neal Kurk.